The Fear of Falling

Heatherly Marks is 34 and has just graduated from college. With three majors and nine minors. She ruled the roost in high school, excelling at everything she turned an eye on—except her dream boy, Sebastian, which undermined her confidence in men. Then a cheerleading mishap took away her self-confidence and gifted her with a debilitating fear of heights, leaving her adrift, without a goal or a guy. When she finds out her unrequited love, Sebastian, is coming to town to spend the summer with his empty-nester mother, Eva, she determines to find out why he never wanted her. Drawing from her many degrees, she poses as a life coach to wriggle her way into his life, taking Eva on as a client to help her learn to be on her own for the first time. She also takes on Amy, a woman bent on gaining a backbone, and Micah, a chubby hippie who wants to get in shape to get the girl of his dreams. With her two cocktail-swilling partners in crime aiding her, Heatherly tries to gently insinuate herself into Sebastian’s life, until the unexpected arrival of his BFF from Chicago: Heather Sparks, who is identical to Heatherly in every aspect except one—she has confidence. The bigger problem: Heather is a perfectly lovely person, so Heatherly can’t even hate her. With time suddenly pressing in, Heatherly begins popping up wherever Sebastian and Heather are—art fairs, gallery openings, barbecues—overjoying Heather and irking Sebastian—hating to see them so effortlessly in sync. Meanwhile, Amy fails at both self-defense classes and meditation, but when Heatherly takes her to karaoke (to stalk Sebastian, of course), Amy finds both her voice and her confidence. Eva learns to enjoy being on her own courtesy of the joy of marijuana, and Micah’s lost weight, gotten in shape and gained his own confidence, while becoming a confidant of sorts to Heatherly as he helps her with Sebastian and they bond over a shared desire to travel the world. Sebastian confronts Heatherly about her omnipresence and tells her to piss off. Then, when Eva’s arrested for drug possession, Amy loses her job for telling off her boss, and Micah’s love tells him she’s leaving the country with another guy, Heatherly is left bereft and back at square one. Her friends help her realize that Micah is the real guy for her, so she bucks up and decides to show everyone that she’s no longer afraid of falling, either from a height or in love. She gathers everyone she’s failed at the gym and she and her high school cheerleaders perform the cheer that led to her insecurity. And at the top of the pyramid, again, Heatherly falls. She’s not hurt and is actually heartened that she had the balls to try the stunt, emboldening her to run after Micah, who has fled the gym, still angry at her. She finds that he is headed to Nicaragua to preach veganism, and she runs to the train, pushing her way on looking for him, until, as the train begins to pull out of the station, she finds him, declares her love for him, and they jump safely to the ground to travel the world together.